Summer vacation, 1991
by hokie3457
Summary: What if...


**A/N: I've had this idea for a while. I got it from the US television show "Mad About You" which aired in the 1990's. For Lisa Kudrow fans-there is a thought by many that she would be good as Penny's Mom-she played a character named Ursala on this show who was the twin sister of Phoebe Buffay on "Friends". **

**I'm going with this now, because I was a little stuck on another story I am working on, but back to that tonight/tomorrow-I'm nearly there.**

**Let me know how you like this and what you think. Reviews good AND bad are always appreciated!**

**Oh, I own nothing to do with The Big Bang Theory. CBS, Warner Bros., Mr. Lorre and Mr. Purdy: Thanks!**

Summer 1991. Outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

The large station wagon lumbered down the dirt road, sending both dust from that road and steam from under the hood swirling about. It seemed to the little girl that a creature was emerging from out of nowhere and materializing right before her.

She jumped up from the folding chair and table that she was sitting at with a sign labeled "Lemonade: 10 cents a glass" and ran toward the farmhouse set back from the road.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she shouted.

The front door on the porch of the house opened and a tall slender, yet muscled man stepped out.

"What is it darling girl?" he asked as he scooped up his daughter, kissed her on the forehead and tucked a strand of her long blonde hair behind her left ear.

She pointed to the road, panting from her run. Her father saw the station wagon, that had now come to a complete stop and pulled over to the side of the road, perched on the side of a gully.

"Looks like we have company. Shall we go and meet them?"

The girl nodded her head in agreement. "Maybe they'll buy some lemonade." she said almost wistfully.

He laughed as he put her down. "Alright you. Let's show them some hospitality, Nebraska style."

"Daddy, what's hopit-hopsita-what is that and where is it so I can show them?"

"Hospitality. That is the way we show them our good manners and see if we can give them any help. It looks like their car is having some trouble."

"Oh. I'm good at hopi-hopi" she sighed heavily. "Well I'm good at it 'cause Momma says my manners are getting better and I like to help people. "specially if they buy some lemonade."

Her father laughed to himself, smiled and thought "I'm so glad she's a girl. Just precious." He shook himself out of this thought process and took long strides down to the road to see what the story was. His daughter ran to catch up to him.

"Well Beverly. If we stopped at the filling station and asked for directions, we wouldn't be stuck here in the middle of nowhere" said the man in the car.

"No. We'd be stuck on the side of the road somewhere else, because you did not prepare this vehicle properly for our trip." the woman returned in a matter-of-fact way.

The man shook his head and exited the vehicle. There were three youngsters in the back seat; a girl who was the oldest at about 16, along with two younger boys.

"You three wait here with your Mother." The girl mumbled something under her breath, the youngest giggled at her retort. The middle boy watched his father as he walked off to speak with the farmer approaching from the house, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Approaching, the farmer said "looks like you are having some trouble." He reached out his hand in greeting. "My name is Wyatt."

"Hofstadter" the driver responded taking the offered hand. "I believe we are just low on water. We'd appreciate it if you could spare us a gallon or two."

"More than happy to, Hofstadter. What do you say you and your family come on in out of the sun. We can wait for her to cool down and check her out to make sure.

"Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Mr. Wyatt." The woman had exited the vehicle and made her way to become a part of the conversation.

"My pleasure Doctor" he replied cheerfully and reached out his hand. "And Wyatt is my first name". He retracted his hand when it wasn't taken in return.

"Children" she said over her shoulder. "Come along. Claire, you watch Michael. Leonard, stay out of mischief."

"Come on ugly" the girl said to her youngest brother.

"You shouldn't talk about Leonard like that" the younger boy replied and began to laugh hysterically at his clever retort.

The middle boy got out of the car and leaned against the door with his head down and his hands in his pockets. He looked up to watch his family make their way to the house. He shook his head and looked down at the ground again, then kicked a rock toward nowhere in particular.

"Hey you." He heard a small voice. "I can kick rocks too. Really far"

The boy looked up and was face to face with the little girl; the farmer's daughter. She smiled brightly at him. Her dazzling green eyes were close to the color of her sundress. He smiled at her. "Can you really?" he replied.

"Uh-huh. I'll show you."

He shoved off from the car so he was no longer leaning. He then walked and positioned himself so he was next to her.

She looked down, searching for a rock suitable to show him. "Here goes!" She backed up and ran toward her target, but stopped suddenly.

"I-I-I don't have any shoes on."

"Well that's alright. I believe you can kick a rock pretty well."

She smiled at him again and was swinging her arms by her side. "How old are you? I'm gonna be six in November. I'm gonna be in first grade" she said with pride and excitement.

"I'm eleven" he replied.

"Are you 'leven already, or is your birthday later, like mine?"

He laughed at her and said "no my birthday's in May."

"What's so funny-are you laughing at me?" she got cross pretty quickly. Her hands were on her hips.

"No, no. I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at all the questions you ask. You have an inquiring mind." He said to calm her.

"Well okay then." Her smile returned. "Daddy says 'you can't learn anything if you don't ask questions'".

"Your Daddy is smart. Don't ever stop asking questions."

Twirling in a circle, then swinging her arms at her sides again, she looked around and focused on the table with her lemonade.

"I'm selling lemonade. Want some?"

"Um sure."

"C'mon." She skipped over to the make-shift stand.

She took a plastic cup from the table and reached down underneath it to a large cooler. She pulled off the top and scooped ice into the cup. She then took a large container with a lid and put it on the table, stood up and carefully poured the drink from the container into the cup. Her tongue was sticking out the side of her mouth. The sight made the boy grin to himself. She then picked up the container squatted down to return it to the cooler, replaced the top and stood up once again. A look of triumph on her face.

"That will be ten cents please" she said looking to complete her business transaction.

"Sure thing" he said as he reached into his pocket. Fishing around, he found some coins and brought them out in his fist. He opened his palm looked down, frowned and looked back up to the girl. "I'm sorry. I only have a nickel and three pennies. That's two cents short."

"Well, that's okay. I already poured it. Daddy says I should wait until I see the money before I give out the drink. Guess he's right."

"I'll get the rest from my Father before we leave okay?"

"Okay." She looked into his hand, picked up a penny and said "this is me-I'm Penny!"

"Your name is Penny?"

"Yup. Well Penelope, but only when I'm in trouble. Mostly I'm Penny."

"I'm Leonard."

"Is there anything else or is it just Leonard?"

"Nah. Just Leonard"

"Okay. Hi". She said.

"Hi." He returned.

"Hi." She said again.

"Hi." He said and laughed.

He took one of the pennies from her and said "You know a penny is made from copper. Do you know on the Periodic Table, the symbol for copper is Cu?

She shook her head no.

Like this. He took one of the plastic cups and picked up a crayon that was on the table and wrote the letters on the cup.

"See. C u together: Cu."

She looked at him wide-eyed.

Did you know that most of the copper in the U.S. comes from Michigan, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico?"

She shook her head and said "you are really, really smart, huh?"

"Well, my family doesn't think so." He looked disdainfully toward the porch.

"Well I think you're smart. Wanna see my horse?" She asked

"Sure".

"Okay. Let's go!"

The little girl took off like a shot. Leonard thought he had never seen such enthusiasm and glee and carefree joy before. This was an interesting little person. He took off after her trying to catch up. He saw her go toward the house and turn behind it.

"Leonard!" His mother shouted.

"Don't go too far off and please don't run like that. Do you have your inhaler?"

"Yes mother." He stopped running-until he got around to the other side of the house, then took off after the blonde sprite ahead of him nearing the stable.

She stood leaning against the door waiting for him to reach her. When he got there he bent down with his hands on his knees.

"Those sneakers don't help you run very fast. You should try another kind."

He nodded his head and took out his inhaler. Shaking it he put it to his mouth, pressed down and breathed in deeply.

The girl's mouth was wide open and she asked in a whisper "what is that?".

"Oh. Sorry. It's alright. It's my inhaler. I have asthma and when I exert myself or when I get upset it gets hard for me to breath. I use the inhaler and it delivers medicine to my lungs to help them clear and I can slowly begin to breath normally again.

"Oh no! I'm sorry. I made you sick" she cried and put her hands over her mouth.

"No, no." He exclaimed, bent down and took her hand away from mouth. He put his hands on her upper arms and said: "you did no such thing. It was my own fault. I know I shouldn't be running, especially when it is so hot and humid out. My mother even told me not to and I did it anyway. It is not your fault at all. Besides. Look I'm better now, see?"

He released her arms feeling a bit awkward and stood up.

"Really. I'm alright. Now show me that horse of yours."

The smile returned to her face slowly and she said quietly "okay. He's over here."

There were eight stalls in the stable; four on each side. Five were occupied. Three on one side. Two on the other. She led him down to the end and stopped in front of the stall with the nameplate "Big Boy" hung on the outside.

"Here he is. His name is Big Boy!" she said, the enthusiasm back in her voice.

The horse was nodding his head up and down. He seemed happy to see the girl. She waited for him to stop. He did and rested his head down on the door to the stable. When he did she rubbed the side of his head gently and whispered, "there's a good boy. I brought a new friend down to meet you. His name is Len-Len-"

"Leonard" he helped her.

"His name is Leonard."

The horse lifted his head and brought it over in the boy's direction and again placed it on the door.

"Don't be afraid. He wont hurt you. Promise."

"I'm not afraid. I just wanted to make sure he was comfortable."

The little girl smiled.

"Hi Big Boy. My name is Leonard-well I guess you already know that. He rubbed the horse gently on his nose, and then down around the side of his neck and his shoulder. "I'm on a vacation with my family. We're from New Jersey and we're on a trip to look at a college for my sister in California. My mother wanted to fly, but my father wanted to take a trip by car. We're kind of here by accident. The car broke down."

The horse let out a snort and nodded his head again.

"He says that's an in'tresting story, but he really wants some feed."

The boy laughed again and followed the girl to a large container at the other end of the stable. She pulled a cart with five buckets on them. Together they put twelve scoops of feed in each bucket and distributed them to each stall, saving Big Boy for last.

"Leonard made this special for you Big Boy, because you were so nice to him and let him rub your withers."

"The withers. What's that?" he asked her.

"On a horse it's the spot right here" she reached up and touched him on the shoulder below his neck. "I saw you pat him there before. He liked it."

Suddenly her father called out "Penny! Penny! Where did you get to girl?"

She sighed and yelled "Coming Daddy!"

"I'm guessing the car cooled down enough for them to realize it was just a little short of water and that all is fine." he said with a smirk.

"Why didn't you say that to them?" she asked with a furrowed brow.

"They didn't ask me and if they did, they wouldn't believe me."

She nodded her head in understanding.

"Penny!" her father called again.

She looked at him. Smiled and bit her lip. She shrugged her shoulders and ran off.

The boy came around the corner of the house to in time to see the two men shaking hands. Claire had a gallon jug of water in her arms and their father held one as well.

"Thanks for all of this Wyatt. It was very kind of you.

Think nothing of it Hofstadter. I don't think you'll need them though you just got low and it got pretty hot out. You have the directions back to the interstate?

"Got them right here. If you're ever in Princeton, we're in the phone book."

Beverly snorted at that.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Dr. Hofstadter." The farmer reached out his hand again. This time The middle boy grabbed it and shook it enthusiastically. His father covered up a proud smile.

"Thank you for your and your daughter's hospitality sir. It was very nice of you." The boy said as he released the handshake.

"Hopitality!" The young girl cried out. "Daddy, I did it!"

"It looks like you did darling girl."

As they turned to walk away, the middle boy caught up to his father and said "Father, I bought some lemonade from the little girl, but I was a little short."

"That's not very wise Leonard, spending beyond your means" his mother said shortly.

"How short son?"

"Two cents, sir."

The older man reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "We'll just subtract that from your allowance. How's that?"

"Thank you sir. I'll be right back."

He ran back toward the farmer and his daughter, but seeing the alarm in the girl's face he slowed to a casual walk.

"What is it young man?" The farmer said in a deep voice looking down at the boy.

He stammered and said "I, I, er, I bought some lemonade and I didn't have enough money."

He reached out his closed fist toward the girl. "Here you go. Thanks for letting me pay you a little late." He dropped the quarter into her hand, smiled and turned saying "bye."

"But this is more than yo-"

"You can give me another cup next time I come through."

He got into the car. His father had already turned the vehicle around and climbed over his sister, so that he was in the middle of the back seat. He rested his arm on the back of the seat and put his head there, looking out the back window.

Driving off, the horn sounded twice and the father and daughter waved. As her father turned to walk back to the house, the girl ran as fast as she could into the road and followed after the car. She stopped suddenly and waved vigorously. The boy smiled and waved back.

In her left hand she clutched the quarter he gave her. In her right, the cup marked Cu.

This occurrence faded into the memories of all involved as just another summer's day adventure among over a thousand others. They were overtaken by some births, movies, days at the beach. They were erased by days camping and playing video games with friends. They were replaced by memories of clam bakes of cook-outs and by every other activity a summer day could bring. They were even replaced with some losses and deaths.

That is for all but two people.

The farmer never forgot the strange and different last name of the family driving through. Years later he heard the name again and remembered the fine young man that had spent time with the apple of his eye. He never mentioned it to anyone, but it made him very happy.

It never completely faded for the young boy either. He remembered getting stuck in Nebraska and a funny, sweet young girl who gave him lemonade.

Spring 2013. Pasadena, California.

After a long day at work Leonard trotted up the stairs. He was alone tonight as it was "date-night" for Sheldon and Amy Farrah Fowler. He had enjoyed the quiet ride home and even was able to listen to his favorite light-jazz radio station.

Instead of going to his apartment, he went straight to Penny's door and knocked softly.

"Come in; it's open" she called, knowing it was him.

He opened the door and came in. She immediately ran to him throwing her arms around his neck, placing the right hand over the left and kissed him deeply.

"Hey, you" she said when they separated. Her bright green eyes shinning at him. She bit her lip.

"Hello to you, beautiful."

She tapped him twice on the chest and walked back to the kitchen.

"I had a craving. Can I get you a glass of lemonade?" she asked him looking over his shoulder.

He titled his head and looked at her quizzically.


End file.
